Chip giant Intel has rushed out and purchased a tiny Israeli PC virtualization start-up Neocleus. While this is not the biggest buy-out Intel has done, it is certainly one of the strangest.

Neocleus was bought for few hundred thousand dollars, which is less than the Intel CEO Paul Otellini's entertainment cabinet budget. The company's 15-20 employees will join Intel Israel's R&D center.

Neocleus CEO Ariel Gorfung and CTO Etay Bogner founded the company in 2006. However, it did not end up doing very well. Over the years, its investors poured $22 million into the outfit. Most of the investment was by Battery Ventures and Gemini Israel Funds, who are unlikely to see any of their money back.

Intel was never a partner of Neocleus, but the start-up uses Chipzilla gear for its virtualization. It seems that Intel has seen something useful in the pile of technology Neocleus came up with and bought the startup as cheap as chips.